


Happy Birthday, Uncle Ben

by EdwardHyde10



Category: Sidneyverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 12:34:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28795470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdwardHyde10/pseuds/EdwardHyde10
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Happy Birthday, Uncle Ben

Happy Birthday, Uncle Ben!  
By  
Edward Hyde

Pulling his dark blue car in desperate need of a wash into his sister’s drive-way, Ben wondered exactly what sort of surprise she and her girls had planned for his birthday. His younger sister Carla had been left alone to raise her two daughters when her husband died in a car accident five years ago and, with very little else in his life to occupy his time and affections, Ben had stepped up to help her and provide something of a father figure to her girls. 

He had not made plans for his birthday that year but Carla had called him just after breakfast that morning telling him to come over for lunch, explaining that eight year old Jessie and six year old Emily had a special surprise for him. He loved the girls as much as if they were his own and they clearly adored him. He was not a wealthy man by any means but a fair amount of his income was disposable and he usually disposed of it in his sister’s direction, making sure that the girls had everything they needed from school uniforms to hot food to winter coats and shoes. 

Emily had only been a baby when her dad died and had no real memories of him. She was dark-haired like he had been and on the chubby side while Jessie was slim without being skinny, her figure athletic, her hair dirty blonde more like her mother’s. Both were full of boundless energy, outgoing and confident and a true delight to be around. 

“Hey birthday boy!” Carla put her hands around her brother’s neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “The girls are so excited to give you your birthday present!”

“Yeah where are the girls?” Ben looked around, puzzled, as he hung up his light Summer jacket on the hook in the hallway, surprised that they have not rushed to welcome him with their usual shower of hugs and kisses when he came in. Peeping into the living room where they were normally to be found, he saw a small table with some balloons tied to it and a brightly-wrapped box but still no girls. “They not home?” he asked, wondering why his sister had been so specific about the time he should come over if the girls had a club or something. 

“Oh they’re here!” Carla grinned, taking his hand, “And are really excited to give you your present. They made it for you themselves, they’ve been working so hard all of yesterday to make it perfect!” Ben allowed himself to be led into the living room, noticing as he did so that the curtains over the French windows that led to the small back garden were closed, like he knew the girls often did to get a clearer view of the TV. 

“Are we going to watch a movie?” Ben asked, sitting down in the armchair which seemed to have been moved to be directly in line with the television, the balloon-festooned table directly in front of it.

“Sort of!” Carla grinned. “Open your card first!” On top of the box was a large white envelope covered in colourful stickers and little felt-tip pen pictures like rainbows, hearts and smiling suns. In the middle, in big colourful bubble-letters was his name. 

“I shouldn’t wait until the girls are here?” he asked, smiling fondly as he turned the envelope around in his hands. “Won’t they want to see me open it?” 

“Trust me!” his sister smiled. “Just open it.” Hoping things might soon become clearer, Ben slipped his thumb under the flap of the envelope and carefully tore it open. The card inside was home made of course and featured the usual explosion of glitter. The picture on the front was recognisable as Jessie’s style and showed a smiling chef in white hat and checked apron standing behind a big pot of cauldron in which two girls were sitting, clearly supposed to be Jessie and Emily from their hairstyles. Both were drawn bright pink with red nipples and big smiles on their faces. The chef behind them, who he now recognised as Clara, had a big spoon in one hand and some sort of cone in the other that Ben was fairly sure was supposed to be a salt-shaker. Above the picture were the words “Happy Birthday” picked out in glitter and looking like Emily’s work, showing that the card had been a join effort. 

“They do get some funny ideas, huh?” Ben chuckled before opening the card to read the message inside. Carla smiled indulgently as she watched the puzzlement on her brother’s face. Inside was another rendering of “Happy Birthday” in multicoloured glitter. “To Uncle Ben” was written above in Jessie’s neat handwriting and below was “Lots of love” followed by both their names, written in different colours in childish attempts at fancy, swirly signatures. Opposite, on the inside of the front leaf, Jessie had written another message. 

“Dear Uncle Tom, we couldn’t afford to buy you what we wanted to for your birthday so we made it for you at home instead. We love you so much and really hope you enjoy your present!” This was followed by several large X kisses. 

“Aw they’re such sweethearts!” Ben smiled, setting the card down carefully and turning his attention to the box. He picked it up, it was light and he could hear and feel a few small, light objects moving around inside. “Hope it’s nothing too fragile!” he chuckled. “Should I open it now?”

“Go ahead!” Carla grinned, clearly excited to watch his reaction. Carefully, Ben tore off the colourful wrapping paper with its pictures of balloons, cake-slices and streamers and revealed a shoe box he recognised as the one Emily’s new trainers he had given her for Christmas had come in. Inside was a half-bottle of not-quite-budget Chilean red wine which he smiled at appreciatively and set on the table, another sticker-covered envelope, longer and thinner than his card, such as a business letter might be sent in, and, most puzzling of all, a remote control with a post-it note stuck to it. “Press Play!” was written in Jessica’s hand, accompanied by three more bright, metallic stickers. “Open the envelope first.” Clara put her hand on her brother’s shoulder. 

Doing as he was told, Ben carefully tore the envelope open and pulled out a piece of yellow card the same size and shape as the envelope. It reminded him of one of Willy Wonka’s famous Golden Tickets! On one side, in pink felt tip, was a fairly impressive rendering of the Sidney’s Family Restaurant logo, the swirly signature of Sidney Roebuck herself with a heart dotting the I. Red hearts were drawn in each corner. Turning it over, Robert could see that the card was intended to be a voucher. He read the message on the back.

“Lunch for One at Sidney’s, 14 Castle Road. 1.30pm, 24th July.” 

The address was that of Clara’s house, the date that day and the time roughly three quarters of an hour from that moment. 

“They really wanted to take you out for lunch,” Clara explained, “to that fancy restaurant in town, but we looked at the prices and there’s no way we could afford a meal for four there without asking you to pay which would rather defeat the object.” She gave the disarming giggle she had always used to get her brother on side right from when she was very little. 

“So they’re cooking me lunch?” Ben smiled. “Are they in the kitchen now? But isn’t Sidney’s…?”

“You can watch the video now!” his sister grinned. “That should answer all your questions!” 

Wondering as he did so whether he was going to be left with answers or just more questions, Ben raised the remote and pointed it at the TV. Carla sat on the arm of the chair and smiled down at him, her hand on his shoulder, eager to watch his reaction. The scene that appeared was that of his two nieces, dressed in short denim shorts and plaid shirts – Emily’s red and Jessie’s yellow, tied up over the chest to show their tummies. Both wore pink child-sized cowboy hats with the Sidney’s logo in silver plastic on the front.

“The borrowed the hats of from one of Jessie’s school friends.” Carla explained. “Apparently they sell those in the gift shop. I think it was her stories about their visit that inspired them in the first place!”

“I see!” Ben nodded, still a little puzzled. The girls in the video were stood just in front of where he now sat, looking at a camera with the TV paused behind them, showing the opening frame of some some music video, from the looks of things, with a teenaged girl in brightly-coloured clothes holding a microphone to her mouth. 

“Is it on?” Jessie asked, looking past the camera at someone, presumably Carla. She must have received an affirmative signal as both girls then wished a loud and cheerful “Happy Birthday” into the camera and Jessie spoke. “Hi Uncle Ben! Welcome to Sidney’s, Castle Road! This video is part of your present, Mummy will put it on a memory stick for you to take home.” At this point she glanced beyond the camera again, apparently seeking confirmation. “But now we want to show you then menu!” Giggling excitedly, both girls ran to the back of the room and stood either side of the TV. There was a hurried exchange of whispers then Jessie gave a nod which must have been a signal to start the video as the static girl on the screen suddenly sprang into hyperactive life.

Side by side, in time to the music which Ben recognised as “(I’m a) Meat-Girl”, the hit among preteens and tortuous ear-worm for parents of the previous Summer, the girls walked forward, strutting like catwalk models, swinging their hips and rolling their shoulders. Only then did Ben notice in the video that the long, narrow carpet from the hall had been laid out in front of the TV to provide a runway of sorts. Reaching the end they stopped, struck a pose then took off their hats, throwing them to either side before turning on their heels and strutting back. Now Emily walked forward on her own, untying her shirt as she did so. At the front of the runway she turned her back to the camera and slipped it off onto the floor before turning back, blowing a kiss to the camera and walking back. Jessie came forward now, undoing her shirt but holding it closed coyly. Reaching the end, she pulled it wide open with a broad grin and allowed it to slip off her shoulders and fall to the floor before strutting back and making room for Emily’s next approach. 

Definitely taken aback but this display, Ben glanced up at his sister but she was just smiling indulgently as she watched her daughters’ slow striptease. 

“Don’t they do well?” she grinned down at him, “They practised it so many times!” He looked back at the screen. Emily was stark naked now, stood next to the TV and popping her hips, making lasso-type movements with her arm as Jessie sashayed down the carpet runway and peeled off her panties before striking a pose and turning to show off her cute, round bottom before making her way back down the runway. Now the girls walked up together again as they had at the beginning and both turned slowly on the spot, one clockwise and the other anticlockwise, showing off every inch of their undeveloped but undoubtedly cute and delicious-looking young bodies. 

“Well,” Clara paused the recording on a shot of the girls with their back to the camera, hands held up and bumping hips, both rumps looking mouth-wateringly round and juicy, “what do you think?” In all honestly, Ben was a little perplexed and not sure what to think! He could not deny that he had found the striptease incredibly arousing and looked forward to watching it again alone, in the privacy of his own bedroom on his big screen, but it had never occurred to him to think of his nieces in that way before. It was not even the first time he had seen them naked, having taken them swimming several times, checked on them in the bath while babysitting and, in early days, changing their diapers but watching them undress so deliberately, flaunting their young bodies like professional lap-dancers, had been a whole different experience and he was grateful that his trousers were not too especially night around the groin! 

“They’ve got… a lot of talent!” he answered eventually, choosing his words carefully. “So what happens now? What are we actually having for lunch?” 

“Men are so dense sometimes!” Clara laughed, rolling her eyes. “Keep watching!” She pressed the Play button again. The posing girls faded out and when the picture faded back in, the girls were in the very familiar kitchen of the small house, both still naked and working side by side at the counter. Emily was stirring the contents of a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon while Jessie was chopping a carrot with a very sharp-looking knife. Beside her was a washing up bowl with some already-chopped carrots and something else in, swede perhaps? And in front of her was a pile of un-chopped carrots, potatoes and leek. 

“So here we are in the kitchen of Sidney’s, Castle Road,” came Carla’s voice from behind the camera which was clearly hand-held this time as the shot moved to zoom in and pan up each girl’s body in turn, setting on their grinning faces, “and our two yummy meat-girls are helping to prepare today’s lunch! What are you working on, girls?” she asked. 

“I’m chopping vegetables for the stew!” Jessie proudly informed her. 

“And I’m making stuffing!” Emily replied with a grin. “Stuffing to fill my tummy!” she patted her own slightly-round belly and grinned even wider, “So I can be even tastier in Uncle Ben’s!” Chuckling from behind the camera, Carla panned over the ingredients that the girls were working on. 

“And what are we cutting you open with to put it in?” 

“This!” The sweet brunette held up a large butcher knife with a wooden handle. She brandished it like a play-sword before setting it down and continuing to mix the grey-green stuffing. 

“Okay so you get that finished,” it was clear from Carla’s voice that she was smiling, “then we’ll get the cooking started!” The picture on the screen faded to black. 

“Penny in the air...” Carla said softly as she paused the video again, referencing a line from a TV show they had enjoyed together when they were children themselves. 

“Wait...” Ben looked up in surprise, “The girls are lunch? For real?”

“Aaaand the penny drops!” his sister laughed, pressing play once more. 

When the scene faded in once more, it showed the girls in the garden, still naked of course and giggling happily.

“So can you show where you’ll be cooked?” Carla asked from behind the camera. 

“I’m going here!” Emily pointed to a pit dug out of the lawn, already filled with charcoal which was starting to burn down ready to cook over and surrounded by a low wall of loose bricks, two high. At either end were metal scaffolding poles stuck into the ground with U-shaped rests at the top which were meant for fixing to other poles but would be perfect to support a spit. “On this!” The camera panned back up to show Emily holding a long wooden pole, a cheap fence post from the garden centre, Ben was sure, cut to a very sharp point at one end. 

“We had fun testing the weight!” Carla remarked to her brother, smiling down at him as they both watched. “They were so helpful in the shop and let us balance the posts on their walls so Emily could hang from them like at the gym. We wanted the thinnest one that could take her weight without looking like it might break!” Ben nodded and continued watching, transfixed, as Emily showed the long steel kebab skewers on the table explaining that they would be used to pin her hands to her side and her feet to the spit. 

“I’m going in here.” Jessie was standing proudly behind a metal dustbin. “On there!” The camera swung to where she was pointing – a circular coal pit close to the spit setup, slightly smaller than the big and surrounded by a single stack of bricks. 

“Is it time to start, Mummy?” Emily came over and asked. 

“Yes, I think it is!” Clara agreed from behind the camera. 

“Show him the other camera!” Jessie’s voice hissed conspiratorially off-screen. 

“Oh yes!” Clara swung the camera around to show Jessie standing next to a second video camera on a tripod, posing like she was showing off the prizes on a game show. 

“We borrowed this camera from Bill and Laura next door,” Jessie beamed proudly, “and it will be recording the whole cooking process for you. Mummy will put that video on the memory stick for you once we’re done, along with some photos we made for you!” she giggled. Ben could see the red light on the camera showing that it was already recording. “Now it’s time to measure the water for the stew!” the cute blonde eight year old grinned. Emily came over dragging the garden hose while Jessie used a little step-stool to climb into the dustbin then sat down with her knees bunched up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. 

Giggling, Emily squirted the hose into the dustbin until the water came to a couple of inches below the rim. The water was clearly icy cold and Jessie shrieked and giggled as her sister hosed her, her little pink nipples standing out hard against her flat chest. Once there was enough water in, Jessie stood and climbed out, dripping wet. Together, the sisters lifted the now half-full dustbin and set it over the glowing coals. 

“Now we put the vegetables into the water,” Jessie informed the camera, taking the washing up bowl of chopped white, green and orange chunks and dumped it into the dustbin, “and a jar of vegetable stock.” She dumped out a glass jar. “Once the water is warmer, the meat will be added.” Ben felt his heart beat faster. Hearing his sweet eight year old niece refer to herself as “the meat” was more thrilling than he could have imagined. “But first we have a nice piglet to oil up!” 

With her mum till filming, moving the camera and zooming as appropriate, the dripping wet eight year old took a bottle of spray-oil and squirted it over her giggling sister’s chest and belly before kneeling down to rub it in. Next she oiled Emily’s cute, puffy vulva, then her legs. The six year old now turned around to allow her back and juicy rump to be oiled. Now, in response to a whispered instruction from her sister, Emily giggled and bent forward, touching her toes. Kneeling down, Jessie squirted the oil into her most intimate opening and rubbed it in with two fingers, making her sister moan so sweetly. She then the same with her sweet little butt-hole. 

“Is the piggy ready to roast?” Clara asked from behind the camera. 

“Yup! All ready!” Emily proclaimed proudly, her hands on her hips. She climbed up onto the table, next to the bowl of stuffing, and pushed out her round bottom. Watching and wishing he could give himself some relief, Ben caught himself licking his lips as the camera zoomed in on his younger niece's delicious rump! 

“We’re going to spit her now,” Jessie explained, “and cook her until she dies, then Mummy will open up her belly, take out and guts and put the stuffing in instead! I need to help Mummy spit Emily, then I’ll get in the stew!” she grinned at the camera. “We love you so much, Uncle Ben! Mummy has to turn the camera off now to help but the other one’s running so you can watch it all at home later!” 

“Bye-bye Uncle Ben!” Emily blew kisses at the camera. “We love you so much! Enjoy your Birthday lunch!” The camera faded out again. When it the picture came back, Emily was over the coals on the wooden spit, her eyes still looking around and what certainly looked like a happy smiles around the pole which emerged from her mouth. She had clearly not been cooking for very long and was only starting to turn pink. The camera panned to Jessie, now sat in her dustbin stew-pot, the water around her starting to steam as the chopped vegetables bobbed around. 

“Happy Birthday, Uncle Ben!” she grinned up at the camera. “Now go open the curtains!”

As Carla switched off the video, Ben, feeling rather self-conscious about the bulge in his trousers, stood up and walked to the back of the room. Finding the string that controlled the curtains, he pulled on it to reveal the garden beyond or, as it was for the afternoon, Sidney’s, Castle Road!

The sight that met Ben through the French windows was, in some way, even more of a shock than the content of the videos! On the lawn were four round tables, borrowed from the Church he was fairly sure. At one was sat his parents and Carla’s in-laws, at another sat her late husband’s brother, his wife and their two younger children – a boy of twelve and a girl of nine. At the third was his best friend from work, Phil, and his wife as well as the young couple from next door from whom the second camera had been borrowed. The fourth table was empty, set for one with a small vase of paper flowers on it and more balloons floating above. A knife and fork were laid out along with a wine glass and Ben realised he was supposed to bring the bottle from the gift box. 

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that Carla had already disappeared through the kitchen, presumably to resume her place at the cooking area which was currently somewhat obscured by a large metal archway he recognised as normally being at the end of his parents’ garden, over their bench, but which was now festooned with balloons and had a large hand-painted, sticker and glitter-encrusted sign with a close approximation of the Sidney’s logo with the words “Welcome to” above. After quickly retrieving his wine and the meal voucher as he presumed was expected of him, Ben clicked the latch on the French windows open, slid them aside and stepped out. 

There were cheers of welcome as he stepped out into the garden and Carla’s oldest niece, sixteen year old Laura, older sister of the two who sat excitedly with their parents at their table, stepped out from behind the archway. She was dressed in a smart black shirt and trousers with a small white apron and a cardboard badge on her chest, taped to a safety pin, which bore her name and the Sidney’s logo, again picked out in Jessie’s felt tip pen with a couple of Emily’s trademark stickers for good measure. Ben realised she must have been trying to use up her rather vast horde as she would have no further use for them after this afternoon. 

“Good afternoon, Sir, and welcome to Sidney’s.” Laura flashed him a professional, customer-service smile. “Do you have a reservation?” 

“Well I have this voucher?” he played along, showing it to her.

“Ah yes, we have a table reserved for you!” the teenager grinned. “But first I wonder if you would like a tour of the kitchen? Do let me take those for you.” She relieved him of the bottle and the card which, like all such creations, was shedding glitter at quite an alarming rate. 

“That sounds wonderful!” Ben smiled, looking around at the other guests. “Smells great for sure!” 

“Take your time!” Laura smiled and gestured behind her. Now Ben got his first good look at the cooking area. His sister was there now wearing a chef’s apron and hat like on the card, turning Emily on the spit every so often and adding more of what he recognised as their dad’s famous barbecue marinade. The little girl was clearly dead now, her belly bulging with stuffing and sewn shut, her hands pinned to her sides as she cooked with the long skewers and others pinning her ankles to the spit, twisted quite deep into the wood to be secure.

“Hi… Uncle… Ben!” He heard a breathless voice and turned to see Jessie still alive in the steaming stew-pot but very read in the face with presumably not long left to live. “Like… your… surprise?” The pretty eight year old smiled at him with genuine happiness.

“It’s wonderful!” He beamed. “Thank you so much! I’m really looking forward to watching the full video later!”

“We were going to serve the stew as an appetiser,” Carla explained, “but it’s taking longer than we expected so it will be roast piglet first, then stew to follow.”

“Sounds great to me!” Ben grinned.

“Don’t… forget… to leave room… for me!” Jessie managed to giggle. 

“I won’t, I promise.” he leant over and kissed her on the cheek, feeling the scalding caress of the searing steam from below as he did so. The smell was amazing ‘though and, glancing down, he saw Jessie’s fingers buried deep in her own preteen pussy. Clearly his little niece had been having fun adding her own special spices to the stew. “Happy cooking!” he smiled at her. 

“If I may show you to your table, Sir?” Laura was by his side once more. He agreed, waving greetings to all the other guests as he was shown to the table which, he now noticed, had a little card with his name on, like a place-setting, with the now familiar hallmarks of his nieces’ combined effort. “Here’s a menu for you.” The teen handed him a folded sheet of A4 cardboard, pink this time, folded longways to resemble a typical restaurant menu, the Sidney’s logo hand-drawn on the front with more hearts, glitter and sparkly stickers decorating the edges. “It’s part of your gift,” she explained, “for you to take home.” 

Opening the menu, Ben saw that the left hand side was taken up mostly with pictures of Emily and the right hand side with pictures of Jessie, all nude and posing to best show off different parts of their bodies. The pictures had all be printed on photo paper and cute out and Ben couldn’t help wondering, hoping too, that they were among the pictures to be included on his souvenir memory stick so he could view them much larger on his TV at home. The bottom picture on either page was a photo of the girls together – on the left with their backs to the camera, showing off their perky rumps, and on the right facing the camera, their arms around each other’s shoulders, making sure their lovely plump vulvae were clearly visible. Ben licked his lips and glanced over at the cooking girls. The thought of cooking and eating them had never even crossed his mind before, even ‘though he knew such things happened and was quite curious to visit a Sidney’s restaurant, but now they were well on their way to being done, he found himself incredibly hungry for their meat!

“The piglet is ready to serve.” Laura explained, setting down a bowl of vegetables and potatoes on the table, taking it from a tray of several such dishes she was clearly distributing. “The first camera is set up in the kitchen so you’ll be able to watch the stew meat being stripped from the bone later if you’d like to.” She smiled and quickly went off to drop off the other bowls then went to assist Carla. 

Next to the steaming dustbin in which Jessie was now slumped, Ben could see a hostess trolley and wondered how the women were going to pull out her body without burning their own hands. He knew that proper restaurants had metal hooks specially designed for such tasks but he doubted that his sister had such specialised tools. Ben was intrigued, therefore, when she took two crook-handled walking sticks from the bottom of the trolley, handed one to Laura and together they fished Jessie’s pink, lifeless body out of the water. As Carla pushed the trolley away, Laura looked over at Ben and invited him to come over. 

“Since this is your special day,” she smiled, “perhaps you’d like to make the first cut?” She handed him the carving set and he looked down at Emily’s roasted carcass, looking far more like a hog-roast at a medieval fair than the excitable little girl he had known. “Wait!” Laura put a hand on his arm, “Before you do, how about we all sing Happy Birthday?” 

Ben stood trying not to smile too awkwardly as the song was sung and he was given three cheers, plus the obligatory one for luck! Then spontaneous applause broke out as he pushed the fork into Emily’s deliciously-roasted round rump and made the first cut with the carving knife, clear juices trickling out and hissing on the coals below as he did so. Now that honorary first cut was made, Laura took back the utensils and took over carving the tender young meat, piling it onto a platter next to the roasting pit, taking care to keep her little cousin’s Prime Fillet aside for Ben, as per Emily’s own wishes. Instead of going immediately back to his seat, Ben took the opportunity to go around and greet all the other guests, exclaiming that, to him, the biggest surprise of the afternoon was not the special dinner but the fact that everyone had managed to keep it a secret! 

Soon enough, it was time to eat and he returned to his table and poured himself a glass of the wine his nieces had specially selected to accompany their meat. From what he could see at the other tables, it was a bring-your-own-drinks affair with an assortment of beers, wines and soft drinks occupying the other tables. As the guest of honour, he was of course served first. Along with Emily’s meaty vulva was the first slice of rump that he had cut and several more. Glancing over at the carcass, he noticed that most of both of Emily’s legs, from buttocks to knee, had been stripped but that her upper body had yet to be touched. There would be plenty of meat for everyone to have seconds and he hoped he’d be permitted to enjoy one of her little puppy-fat titties. 

Along with the meat was some of the stuffing he had watched Emily mix, scooped out from inside her cooked body. Laura also set down a small jug of gravy for him before moving off to serve the rest of the tables. Smiling as the smell of the wonderful treat before him hit his nose, Ben helped himself potatoes and veg then poured on a little of the rich, thick gravy. 

His first mouthful, of course, had to be from the vulva. The meat was so tender he thought it would melt in his mouth, the flavour smokey without being too intense. Just perfect! The second mouthful was on its way to his lips when Carla pushed the trolley back out to beside the improvised stew-pot, this time with two large buckets on top. One with bones sticking out at strange angles from the top and the other piled high with red chunks of partially-cooked meat. The bones went in first, clattering to the bottom with a metallic rattling, closely followed by the meat which plopped wetly. With nothing left to do but wait, Carla and Laura loaded up their own plates and came over to Ben’s table.

“Don’t mind if we join you, do you?” Carla smiled, sitting and setting down two cans of cola from the fridge. 

“Not at all” Ben smiled warmly as both she and Laura helped themselves to vegetables and gravy. “This really is wonderful, all of it!” He waved his hand to include the whole setup in the garden. 

“Thank you!” his sister blushed a little at the compliment. “All the credit really has to go to the girls! I told them there was no way we could hire the right equipment but they went away and came up with all the improvised ideas themselves. And I’m sure you can tell they were behind all the signs and cards and whatnot!” 

“Oh yes, for sure!” Ben chuckled, finishing his plate. “Is it okay to help myself to some more?” 

“Oh yes, please do!” Carla urged. “Just leave room for some Jessie stew!” 

“Oh don’t worry, I will for sure!” Ben assured her. When he sat back down once more, he turned to Laura. “It’s really kind of you to help out like this!”

“Oh anything for my favourite cousins!” the pretty teenager giggled sweetly. “And I do want to see if I can get some waitressing work while I’m at college, until I’m old enough to work in a bar, that is. So this will be good experience.” 

“Good idea.” Ben nodded. “Well this will certainly go down as one of my most memorable birthdays! Although I will miss those two little terrors.” He took a sip of his wine, thoughtfully. 

“Oh and there’s one more part to your present that the girls organised.” Carla grinned. “For after dinner of course!”

“Oh?” Ben was surprised but only a little. “They baked me a cake or something?”

“Oh well yes but for after that. It’s something else they asked Laura to help with.”

“Oh?” Ben asked again, turning this time to the sixteen year old, feeling almost as puzzled as when he had first been sat down to watch the video. “What is it?”

“It’s something they asked me to do for you.” She blushed sweetly. “Upstairs in their room. In private.” She said this last word very pointedly. 

“Ooooh!” Ben exclaimed, realising what his final treat was to be as his face turned a similar colour to his wine. “I see!” 

“I think the stew should be ready.” Carla winked at Laura, taking pity on her brother and wanting to break the embarrassed tension of the moment. “Let’s go and check.” 

“Good idea!” Laura grinned. “Hope you’re looking forward to it, Ben? And what comes after of course!” She gave him a sly wink and followed Laura to the cooking area.

“Oh yes!” Ben spoke more or less to himself, taking another sip of his wine. “Happy Birthday to me!”

THE END


End file.
